Teams & Riders Brothers in (crank) arms - Yates Discussion Thread

[Jspear]

He's seem to be in good enough form to win from the peleton - The conundrum is you don't just throw away the yellow jersey.

I’m not sure if he’s good enough to win from the peloton in the yellow jersey. Who’s gonna let him go off and gain more time like that? If it’s a punchy finish, Roglic Will probably track him down and win the stage. If it’s a long hard proper mountain stage, there’s plenty of riders I see beating Yates.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Wonder if Adam is gonna be able to stay with the favs today after all the effort of yesterday? He rode well yesterday to keep yellow so not sure if he's happy to let if go and stay amongst the favs and try and regain it later in the race. He may want to make friends with his future employer, they may help him stay up there.

 

[Red Rick]

Just try and if you do, probably just go for GC until you crack?

 

[Eclipse]

Will be interesting to see what he does now. Still on for what would be a solid GC performance but maybe better to just sandbag and then go hunt a stage or two to close out a good tour as the legs are clearly good enough for that and I don't see him being allowed to attack off the main bunch as it stands.

 

[roundabout]

He was about 10th strongest rider this weekend at a glance (maybe slightly worse even). I doubt that he would get better in the second half of the race and with the contract in place he should stick to the original stage hunting plan.

 

[yaco]

He will deliberately lose time in the next two stages in the crosswinds.

 

[roundabout]

Only one who tried today from that position, but now I guess it's GC from here?

 

[Fergoose]

Both Quickstep and JV have really annoyed me this race by giving attacks that have little impact on them almost zero leeway. We only started getting decent breakaways when Mitchelton took over yellow and had a more relaxed attitude (whilst never jeopardising the jersey).

Why did JV hunt down Yates? He is minutes down and a confirmed middling time trialler at best (so really about 3mins 30 down). Yes, neutralising him dissuades others attacking to join him, but then you shut down the attack at that point (which would allow Bennett to be retained for longer).

Would Sky have let Yates attack go in previous years and focus instead only on legit contenders? Am I imaging that JV even shut it down with Dumoulin and instead it was Yates easing up?

 

[Red Rick]

Both Quickstep and JV have really annoyed me this race by giving attacks that have little impact on them almost zero leeway. We only started getting decent breakaways when Mitchelton took over yellow and had a more relaxed attitude (whilst never jeopardising the jersey).

Why did JV hunt down Yates? He is minutes down and a confirmed middling time trialler at best (so really about 3mins 30 down). Yes, neutralising him dissuades others attacking to join him, but then you shut down the attack at that point (which would allow Bennett to be retained for longer).

Would Sky have let Yates attack go in previous years and focus instead only on legit contenders? Am I imaging that JV even shut it down with Dumoulin and instead it was Yates easing up?

I don't even think Dumoulin really went after Yates, the latter just must have felt he couldn't sustain that power to stay away. They wanted to win the stage with Roglic, what do you want them to do?

 

[TomLPC]

Both Quickstep and JV have really annoyed me this race by giving attacks that have little impact on them almost zero leeway. We only started getting decent breakaways when Mitchelton took over yellow and had a more relaxed attitude (whilst never jeopardising the jersey).

Why did JV hunt down Yates? He is minutes down and a confirmed middling time trialler at best (so really about 3mins 30 down). Yes, neutralising him dissuades others attacking to join him, but then you shut down the attack at that point (which would allow Bennett to be retained for longer).

Would Sky have let Yates attack go in previous years and focus instead only on legit contenders? Am I imaging that JV even shut it down with Dumoulin and instead it was Yates easing up?

Reports that Roglic told JV in the morning he wanted to win the stage, I think that's why, take a crumb of comfort however in knowing he made a bit of a balls up of it.

 

[Fergoose]

I don't even think Dumoulin really went after Yates, the latter just must have felt he couldn't sustain that power to stay away. They wanted to win the stage with Roglic, what do you want them to do?

For JV I'm happy for them to run defensive tempo and neutralise attacks from genuine rivals OR run offensive tempo and launch an attack. In the end they neutralise a non-threat AND don't attack with Roglic. That is a recipe for minimising entertainment without furthering your own objectives. If they had timed the acceleration with the dropping of Bernal then I'd understand, but it didnt seem to be like that.

In fairness Roglic maybe felt good on the lower slopes but didnt have what it takes up at the top. Plus the fact Yates still finished with the leaders showed he didn't empty the tank with his attack.

Hopefully Adam and the other guys from 3rd to 10th don't let it put them off having a dig outside of the last km on a MTF, but I wouldn't blame them if they just shut up shop and give up on being proactive if there is no upside and only downside given JV's apparent willingness to shut down anything that they can.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Dilemma- Go full gas for stage win or sustain & improve GC position by conserving

 

[Fergoose]

Dilemma- Go full gas for stage win or sustain & improve GC position by conserving

His DS was on the telly today making it clear they will 100% be going for GC with Yates. Chavez and Neive are the ones that might go stage hunting. I found it a bit naive to put Neive on the chase for the stage today. Surely tomorrow was the better bet where teammates can aid Yates if they get in the break but can't challenge for the stage.

 

[Oliver]

No Worlds for them, a bit of a surprise for me...

 

[Mayomaniac]

No Worlds for them, a bit of a surprise for me...

Yes, both of them not riding the Worlds sounds just stupid to me.
Adam should come out of the Tour with great legs and Simon just won Tirreno-Adriatico, one would assume that they'd be the best options for GB.

 

[IndianCyclist]

OK GC is mostly done for TDF.
Awaiting Simon's exploits in the Giro

 

[yaco]

I wonder if Yates had a mechanical on the gravel because he wasn't that far behind after the final climb.

 

[Oliver]

Yes, both of them not riding the Worlds sounds just stupid to me.
Adam should come out of the Tour with great legs and Simon just won Tirreno-Adriatico, one would assume that they'd be the best options for GB.

Especially because he has won San Seb after Tour once... Maybe he thinks he has more chance of winning Fleche Wallone 3 days later

 

[Forever The Best]

A good ITT, then loses minutes on the first MTF? So, so inconsistent.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Simon Yates completely baffles me..

how he suddenly has a weak day out of nowhere.
Giro win seems unlikely now, but I'd not count him completely out of it yet. Could still podium if he refinds his Tirreno legs.

 

[yaco]

This was exactly the same result as the stage to Mount Hotham in the 2020 Herald Sun Tour - A uniperto stage in which he popped - That day he finished over 2 minutes behind the stage winner in Jai Hindley who today finished over 2 minutes in front of him - And before the Herald Sun Tour he rode well in the TDU and the Cadel Evans race whilst in this case he rode well in TA - I doubt the team can invest the resources to support his GC bids which are prone to failure - He can be very effective in one week stage races and target stages in GT's.

 

[markene2]

Simon Yates completely baffles me..

how he suddenly has a weak day out of nowhere.
Giro win seems unlikely now, but I'd not count him completely out of it yet. Could still podium if he refinds his Tirreno legs.

Simon will podium, cant wait to see him bounce back, he has the same riding style on a bike as Ricco, really like the dude, looks great on a bike!

 

[Red Rick]

I think he's not definitely out of this yet if this is a temporary thing.

 

[Lequack]

Really strange one today. Especially after the strong TT.

 

[Forever The Best]

If, big if though, this is a jour sans, then he can still win this. Even with a 3 minute disadvantage to most of the favourites. The race is extremely open, no team has the strength to control the race in my opinion, the route is very hard if any cancellation or shortening doesn't happen and there are not that many proven GT contenders ( Nibali is a proven one ofc and also Kruijswijk ). If he has the legs, he should try to gain time in any chance he gets, starting with stage 5.